Of Course Applebee's Is Going to Replace Waiters With Tablets

[TalkingDog]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/12/03/tablets_at_restaurants_applebee_s_chili_s_race_to_eliminate_human_interaction.html



Chili’s unveiled basically the same plan three months ago. But that doesn’t mean Applebee’s hasn’t been plotting this move for years. In fact, Applebee’s was the name that came up when my former Slate colleague Annie Lowrey first wrote about the tablets-for-restaurants idea in April 2011. Her story focused on Palo Alto-based startup E La Carte, which is in fact Applebee’s partner on the just-announced deal. Chili’s opted for a rival vendor, Ziosk. Applebee's went light on details in announcing the terms of its deal, but here's how the economics of the proposition looked when Lowrey wrote about it in 2011:

The Presto [E La Carte’s tablet] aspires to be the food-services version of the airline check-in kiosk or the ATM or the self-checkout at your local pharmacy. It makes a person's job a computer's job, and that cuts costs. Each console goes for $100 per month. If a restaurant serves meals eight hours a day, seven days a week, it works out to 42 cents per hour per table—making the Presto cheaper than even the very cheapest waiter. Moreover, no manager needs to train it, replace it if it quits, or offer it sick days. And it doesn't forget to take off the cheese, walk off for 20 minutes, or accidentally offend with small talk, either.

The restaurants deny that the tablets represent an attempt to replace human employees with computers. Applebee’s is saying that it won’t change its staffing levels when the devices come online next year. And Chili’s is optimistic that the tablets will pay for themselves by bringing in extra revenue from impulse orders and at-the-table gaming. Not only will you not have to talk to a waiter when you want to order something, you won’t have to talk to your kids, either!

Then again, of course these businesses are saying they won’t use the tablets to replace employees. Announcing layoffs along with the tablet move would be begging for a backlash. The fact is, if the tablets work, they’ll make the ordering process more efficient and cut the amount of human labor that these restaurants require. At that point, do you suppose they’ll keep the extra waiters around out of charity?

[Decaffeinated]

1. Sounds good to me...

Nice clear records of who ordered what.. ding for refill etc.. etc.. etc..

[TalkingDog]

5. Um... who, exactly, is going to be refilling your drink? You won't have wait staff.

And as for the "clear records of who ordered what", that won't keep the cook and kitchen staff from fucking up your order.

[former9thward]

9. It will be similar to automated check out machines at grocery stores.

The store I go to has about 6 or 7 automated machines with one person there to help if there is a problem. At restaurants they will not completely eliminate servers but will be able to greatly reduce the number.

[jamzrockz]

49. Yea, but the person at the auto checkout

is there mainly to ensure nobody tricks the machine. But yea, airport restaurants have been using the note pads for years and they still co-exist with waiters and waitresses. Who knows how it is will be in the future, but right now its no thread to the waiter profession.

[Erose999]

12. They'll probably make drinks self-serve. and then you get a 1-800 # to complain about crappy service

press 1 for English, and then 45 minute queue with Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give you Up" for hold music.

[MADem]

31. You'll have PROOF of it, though--not "I TOLLLLLD him/her I wanted cheese on that!"

It'll be right there on the document that the person punched in.

On the odd occasions that I order pizza to the house, I use the internet to do it, not the phone. Why? Because I don't have to worry about some distracted kid mishearing my order. I am MUCH more satisfied when I order this way--my order is NEVER fucked up, and that improves the experience for me.

And come on--this is frigging Applebee's. There is no "cooking" at that place--it's all frozen or pre-prepared shit that is microwaved or heated. It's not real food.

You know what you are getting at places like that. They don't call it "Crapplebee's" for nothing.

[Larkspur]

63. I found a print bug in Papa Gino's online order system...

When I order extra meatballs for my spaghetti dinner, the receipt at the store just shows 2 meatballs, but when I order them at the store, the word "extra" precedes the word "meatballs".

The servers, mostly the new ones, get confused with the online order tag because it doesn't have "extra" in it. I notified the site manager and he agreed with me that the online order system needs to be changed to match the in-store systems use of including the word "extra". He's waiting to talk to his district manager about it, so in the mean time, I always check the number of meatballs before I leave the store.

[MADem]

65. If you order from PG's online, there is a space to write a note to the people taking the order.

I use it to give detailed directions to my house and tell the delivery guy where to park, and to tell them "make sure it is DIET coke," but I suppose you could use that spot to talk about the meatballs!

[Ms. Toad]

99. Dominoes messed up my daughter's pizza order

(ordered via the internet) three times in a row. Lots of free pizza to atone for the mistakes . . .

[MADem]

101. See? You had PROOF they messed it up!

If you'd done it by phone, the person taking the order would have accused your daughter of being a space case, stoned or what-have-you. She might have gotten a coupon discount at best!

She needs a better brand of pizza, though. Free cardboard with battery acid sauce is still ... ick!

[Ms. Toad]

104. She doesn't eat pizza at all anymore.

She cooks virtually all her food from scratch now, and avoids dairy, gluten, and meat.

But I was mostly giving a counterexample to your suggestion that ordering via the internet would make it more likely that they would get it right.

[MADem]

110. I've done it both ways, and in my experience, I get a much more accurate order

when I do it by the internet. The odd time they've gotten it wrong, they've compensated for their mistake. I never get more than a "sorry" if I order by phone and they eff it up.

[Erose999]

117. Ive had online pizza orders bungled many times. The driver said its a common problem.

[Decaffeinated]

77. I don't expect the total removal of wait staff in the immediate future...

Hit the button and a wait member can come out chop chop...

I was thinking more about the end when people split their bill. Actual ordering can be easier as well and it can help with timing the orders to the kitchen as well. Also nice chance for both the business and the customer to save some money.

Lots of positives and few negatives...

[kentauros]

115. Nor do I.

Which is why I haven't bothered reading the majority of this thread.

The tablets are just an ordering device, no different than the online ordering I did last night for my pizza delivery. I still tipped the delivery guy. And you'll still have to tip the waitstaff for bringing your food to you. That tablet isn't a magic carpet, you know!

I don't know if this will save the customer any money, but would think that it could save the business money in fewer wrong orders and such. I just wonder if there's room for typing in special instructions and ingredients...

[Chan790]

121. A local high-end pizzeria did this: A real-world functional-assessment of how this works.

It's more of a mixed-bag in terms of workforce-consequences in my experience.

The register system is functionally identical to the online ordering system except that the register has a cash drawer...so all the orders go to the kitchen in the same way whether an in-person order, a phone order or an internet order. I know this because I sometimes take jobs as a culinary-temp and I've done a few (Edit: Like 10 (over 4 months) between him and sick call-outs; I'm hoping to be the temp F/T replacement for the 2 months he's going to be out.) shifts there for one of the pizzaiolos about to go out on paternity leave. (Or is it still maternity leave if the father is taking time off work b/c his wife's having a baby?)

At the same time, they moved the soda machines from behind the counter to the front and at-first allowed (pretty-much now necessitate) customers to get their own refills. They didn't lay off any servers...but they haven't replaced them as they've left (other than busy shifts like Friday night, they're at zero after a year) and shifted more and more of the table-running responsibilities to the kitchen staff...it's nice in only one respect. A chef...even a temp. chef...makes more than a server and if I'm also servicing the table, I get any tip. I make the pizza or entree or appetizers; I table-serve the food; I have to serve any beer, liquor or wine; I check with you 1 or 2 times to see if you need anything or would like to order more...other than that, you're on your own.

The end result is that they end up with about 1/3 the workforce but the workforce remaining is making about 150-200% as much as they did before. $10.60 +tips (with a median ticket price of $36 for pizza or $70 for entrees for a party of four...$60 (or $90+) with alco. beverages...more with desserts or appetizers.) is better than $10.60 without tips...but I know that I'm displacing at-least one server and they moved from having servers that bus their own tables to making the dishwashers bus the tables and I have to tip them out.

[kentauros]

131. That's cool that you're able to serve and cook.

But a place like Applebees (and any other chain of a similar type, usually a "grill&quot isn't going to have enough time for their kitchen staff to do serving in addition to cooking. Unless they really screw around with job descriptions and have busboys, hosts, and managers serve, too, just to get rid of waitstaff. I don't see that happening here.

The tablet idea is simply a tool that replaces another tool, namely paper and pen. I would suspect waitstaff will be retained to do all the other service jobs as well as make sure people got their orders right. I would also figure that people will make mistakes in the beginning and there will be more wrong orders than before. Once they get used to the system, mistakes will go down, or programming will change the input system to account for a higher learning curve from customers.

I've also worked in the food industry, as busboy, dishwasher, cook, pastry cook, and baker. I never wanted to work waitstaff, but not because of the pay. I'm just not that good at writing down orders versus making them

[WinkyDink]

2. Well, that would put an end to fake-receipt attention-cravers.

[Blue_Adept]

3. It's just a stopgap measure until we have Star Trek replicators.

Fear technology and progress!

[Blue_Adept]

15. This one

Cause we've seen it in a couple of other chains in the last few years and it hasn't had an impact?

it's new at Applebees, not new to the restaurant industry.

[leftyohiolib]

19. so theyre gonna pay the wait staff to do what?

i guess i should include not hiring when they normally would

[Politicalboi]

32. They can still bring you the food

Refill your drinks, and make sure everything is good. Sizzler is a pay at the counter with wait staff. They get tips too.

[Swede Atlanta]

53. I am sure their long-term plan is to eliminate wait staff altogether....

You can plop your fat American ass into a booth and order your fat and carcinogen laden food from the tablet. They will give you a number. They will call your number and you waddle over with your walker to get your food and you plop yourself down.

They might have a few illegals refilling water, etc.

But they have no plans to offer any kind of service. It is self-service.

Soon you will have to cook your own food too.

[LionsTigersRedWings]

58. that's the long term plan of technology!!!

[LeftyMom]

90. "illegals"??????? Seriously?

[MADem]

102. Incredible... nt

[leftyohiolib]

119. some see them as commiting breaking-and-entering on the u.s.

[LeftyMom]

132. Who sees that?

Use fewer weasel words and say whatever it is you're aiming at, thank you.

[leftyohiolib]

134. i did

[leftyohiolib]

135. sorry never answered your question the answer is i do, norman goldman does also (he's on

the radio usually in the line up of steph and Randi etc) and imsure there are others that think they should be using the legal process plus it's a slap in the face of those who are working withi in the legal process.

[leftyohiolib]

61. thanks you know i completely overlooked that part of it thanks

[TorchTheWitch]

92. I take it you've never waited tables before

Order taking is only a very small part of the job. Experienced waitstaff can also do it a hell of a lot faster than some customer fiddling with a machine, which makes the use of the machines in a sit down restaurant rather stupid.

I also don't think the self-serve checkouts in stores actually save the company from having to hire the same amount of employees. Every self-serve checkout station needs an attendant to deal with machine problems, customer ignorance of the machines, scanning large or heavy items, replacing bags, etc., and that one attendant with regular checkout line experience gets through the same or even less amount of customers for all the machines than they would for one single checkout line because a) customers are FAR FAR slower at checking out their own items than an experienced checkout employee, and b) they can't get attendant help immediately because the attendant has to help all of the customers using all of the machines all at the same time. Those attendants are also the same people that at other times work the regular checkout lines, so they aren't any cheaper for the company to pay either.

The only plus I can see for stores doing this is because the one thing everyone hates about shopping is waiting in the checkout line/doing the checkout process. Most people are willing to go through the self-checkout because even though it's a lot slower than a regular line due to the above, they'd rather be doing something than just standing in line waiting. In a restaurant though people go there for the purpose of being waited on. That's a whole lot of the point to a sit down restaurant - better and bigger variety of food than the average fast food restaurant that they can order specially (rice instead of potatoes, condiments on the side, cheddar instead of provolone, etc.) and because they WANT to be waited on. That's just the first reason why it's a stupid idea for a sit down restaurant.

A couple of other reasons why it's stupid... How is the machine secured? A group of people at a table are either going to have to assign one person to take everyone's order with the machine that's secured in one place at the table, or have to pass around a tablet that will have to be secured by a cord so it doesn't get stolen. How do the people at the table deal with a tablet attached to a security cord without the cord knocking over things on the table or the filthy dirty thing sliding across their silverware and whatever else is on the table already? Another thing is that everyone else that was at that table had their grubby hands on the machine, and who wants to be using it and then have to eat their finger foods without cleaning their hands first? This is also going to be a much more complicated process than using a store machine to checkout since all you do in a store is scan the bar code, put the items in a bag and pay. In a restaurant customers will have to learn how to use much the same sort of machine that restaurant employees use and that need to be trained to use because there is a HELL of a lot more one has to know.

The only thing that makes any sense about Applebee's using tablets for the ordering of food and drinks is if it's the WAITSTAFF that uses them instead of the paper pads they normally use to write orders on and then have to walk that paper to the kitchen to put in the order. And that's what I hope is Applebee's intention in using them.

[wickerwoman]

122. I go to sit-down restaurants

to get nicer food than I can cook myself or get at a take-out joint and so I can catch up with friends and family or hold meetings in a less formal atmosphere than the office.

I have never gone to a restaurant "to be waited on" and to be honest, it's one of the less enjoyable aspects of the whole experience. For every great server you get half a dozen who can't remember the order, take forever to get around to your table, interrupt you every five minutes, smother you with fake cheerfulness and familiarity, or push things on you that you're not interested in buying.

From a pro-labour perspective, it's a shame that these jobs are becoming obsolete but I think it's difficult to argue for them based on "being waited on is the whole reason to go to a restaurant". It's not.

[Erose999]

6. All fine and dandy until the power goes out in the middle of dinner service.

[former9thward]

10. That has never happened to me.

I'll bet almost no one has had that experience. An if the power does go down right now what do you think is going to happen? Light candles? Cook with wood?

[Erose999]

18. Last time I went to Chili's the power did go out. Thunderstorms. Climate change. Fun fact: most

Last edited Wed Dec 4, 2013, 02:56 PM - Edit history (1)

stuff in a restaurant kitchen that does the actual cooking runs on gas.



Also, with actual humans doing the customer service, you can add up orders with a battery powered calculator (or :gasp: pencil & paper) and take credit cards on the old style carbon copy deals:


People who were born after 1980 probably have no idea what this machine does:

[tridim]

33. I used to love those things, especially at the gas station in the 70's.

Not really sure why. Maybe it was the sound it made?

I shutter at the massive security holes in that old system.

[PoliticAverse]

69. I think it was the hope that maybe they'd lose the slip...

And every once in a while someone put the card in the device wrong and it put a gash in your card.

[MADem]

34. Born AFTER 1980, you mean.

Thing is, what restaurant has one of those on hand? They will, instead, call in the charge and do the whole thing by phone.

Usually, they will close when the power goes out for a long period--they don't want the liability issues. Can't have someone stumbling and falling in a dark restroom.

[Erose999]

44. yeah after is what I meant. We've had one everywhere I've worked, but all those places have been

around for years. I suppose a startup from the last 10 years might not have a manual swiper. But yeah I've had to deal with having charges called in too. Guhhhhhh, thats horrible.

[jeff47]

78. There's required parts that are electric.

For example, they won't be able to casually stroll in and out of the fridge or freezer.

And in some places, the ventilation system must be operable for them to cook.

Plus, those gas devices will probably be electric ignition these days. As a safety precaution, they won't let the gas to the burner if the electricity is off.

[philosslayer]

84. They still use them in cabs

At least some cabs. They appear to be the last holdouts.

[Tien1985]

103. 1985--please enlighten me

Looks like a card shredder?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

111. Hell, I saw one of those back in February

The moving company I hired said they still used it because the fees were lower than any of the portable electronic alternatives.

[Arcanetrance]

60. Trust me the more electronic your kitchen gets the bigger the pain in the ass it is.

I've had power go out during a Friday night service the micros system goes down. It causes us in the kitchen to have a hell of a night because you customers get antsy cause it's considered a safety risk to have them in the restaurant so you turn people away and the ones that are there the orders get lost. As far as cooking as another person said commercial stoves and such are gas.

[ChazII]

71. Once a restaurant lost its power because of workers

digging a line of some type cut the power line. Everyone received a gift certificate for a free dinner. The emergency lights came on but luckily it was summer so there was plenty of light at 6 pm. Yes, I eat early.

[Capt. Obvious]

20. And that never happens when they have human wait staff

[Erose999]

23. Human wait staff can at least take orders & payment manually. When the tablets go out Crapplebee's

will be fucked. Its not just power failure either, sometimes networks crash because of technical errors. When I worked at AutoZone, our entire computer network went down for a few hours. Some guy at the home office probably made a typo in some coding on an update or forgot to update his flash or something. We kept the store running using paper parts catalogs, a calculator, and an old school credit card swiper (the carbon copy kind).

[Capt. Obvious]

29. Is that before, or after they subdue the rioters?

[liberal N proud]

7. Remember the diners that had telephones in each booth

where you called you order to the kitchen.

Same thing, it didn't last then and won't last now. people eat out to get waited on.

[LionsTigersRedWings]

42. I didn't know they had phones in restaurants to call the kitchen.

that's interesting.

But it is not the same thing. having a screen to look at what someone ordered is a lot easier and more reliable than a phone call.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

106. yes

[rocktivity]

8. You go to the restaurant, sit down before a tablet, and order

when you can do that from home?


rocktivity

[hollysmom]

14. well, with applebees, it is already microwaved food, you can do that at home as well.

[tridim]

35. Unless things have changed, the vast majority of Applebees food is NOT microwaved.

It is cooked just like you'd cook it at home, on a gas grill, on a flat top, under a broiler or deep fried.

Only the fresh veggies and some sauces were mic'ed.

[hollysmom]

39. Maybe, but it is probably pre seasoned

and does not require a chef, just a heater. I remember the restaurant top of the 6's in NYC didn't even bother to have a kitchen.
Like I said, I tend to eat locally and to avoid chains. I ate in Applebees one time when stuck in a mall and found the food tasted all reheated. call me a food snob, I would rather have simple food than reheated food.

[tridim]

51. Again, it was all fresh when I worked there as a line cook.

Veggies were cut fresh from whole vegetables by prep-cooks. Seasoning was salt, lemon-pepper, garlic powder and butter. The burgers were fresh, unseasoned patties. Chicken was fresh, pre-marinated (good). Steaks were cryo-packed, but fresh. Only the frozen junk food items were pre-processed.

Honestly I never understood why people trashed Applebees food so much. It was pretty damned good food for the price.

[cherokeeprogressive]

85. I've never had any complaints about Applebee's food. Appetizers to Entrees were just fine.

To be honest, when we're at Applebee's, it's more of a social outing than a dining expedition, but everything I've ever ordered there was perfectly acceptable and tasted just fine.

For some, food snobbery is a way to be seen as being "refined" I guess.

[hollysmom]

124. not food snobbery as much as not good food

My experience was not good. I occasionally have bad food in good restaurants, but chains are supposed to be uniform. As far as being a snob, I love eating in diners, so many good ones near me and service is great. Favorite sandwich is a good BLT, but have to have good tomatoes and crisp bacon.

[cherokeeprogressive]

126. I do love a well-made BLT.

Having been in the Navy I must admit my tastes are a little less discerning than some.

There is no denying though that some upturned noses are motivated by simple snobbery. It's one of the things I find most entertaining about DU.

[hollysmom]

120. Well, I am sorry for insulting your job. It might have been just the one I was in that felt very

pre-cooked. even that salad was wilted - I know there are bad stores that give a bad name, I also know that there are chains where all the food is pre-cooked - IHOP and Stouffers for 2 odd ones, I have also heard where some steaks come with the grid marks already on them when delivered to some places (Charley Brown's?)

Since chains bank on uniformity to sell their product, once you eat in one bad store, the whole chain gets tarnished in your mind.

[jberryhill]

11. Yes, before I eat, I want to put my fingers on something everyone else has touched

[dbackjon]

16. Awesome point.

[geek tragedy]

25. Well, you touch the table and the seat . . . nt

[yeoman6987]

40. Fingers on item that everyone else touched

You actually do already. The menu's are the most disgusting things on the planet. I have known that forever. The tablet will be no different.

[LionsTigersRedWings]

45. hand sanitizer or go wash them.

problem solved!

do you not wash your hands before you eat anyway? or do you eat with dirty hands?

[DeschutesRiver]

64. Like the machines we all use to swipe credit cards at grocery stores? Like door handles at applebees

And the list goes on of things that multiple people touch daily that the rest of us subsequently touch.

Even the napkins, forks, spoons and plates are not going to arrive at your table at Applebees without having been touched multiple times by several people at the restaurant.

Even if you wash your hands after touching the tablet, you will still pick up that fork that has already been handled several times in getting to your table for your use...

I wouldn't overthink this aspect. Other than how it will affect employment numbers, i am thinking it makes sense and all other things being equal, would prefer to use a tablet.

[Skittles]

70. EXACTLY what I was thinking

[Blue Owl]

76. Call it the eColiMagicWaitron3000

n/t

[cherokeeprogressive]

86. Do you touch doorknobs? n/t

[hobbit709]

13. But will the food improve?

[AZ Progressive]

17. This is the dark side of technology, technology destroys so many jobs

even though technology itself has created many jobs, those jobs are mostly to the highly educated / intellectuals and the lower skilled tech related jobs are sent overseas. This obviously is like the middle classes and above siphoning jobs from the working class. The result is that it makes it harder and harder for poorer people (that can't afford higher education) to be able to find a job, lest anyone else that just doesn't have the time or ability to retrain for a new career.

[MADem]

37. Someone has to make the tablet, program the tablet, install the tablet, perform maintenance on the

tablet, clean the screen of the tablet...and bring the food to the table.

Technology destroys the jobs that most people don't really want to do. They're hard, dirty, labor intensive jobs that are bone wearying. Someone still has to cart the food to the table--they just don't have to stand there with a note pad while people hem and haw.

[AZ Progressive]

93. Come on, thats Propaganda

As I said before, the people employed by technology are higher educated (thus not available to the lower classes), plus it seems like for every tech job created, 10 jobs are destroyed or sent overseas. Your destroying people's livelihoods and they can't go and get the jobs that technology destroyed because they can't move to another country (and get a pittance) or they just don't have the ability (and technical intellect) to get a high tech job, especially if they are in their 50's (the tech industry favors younger people.)

[Glassunion]

98. Should we halt progress to save jobs?

Should technology stop in its tracks before its too late?

[MADem]

109. Nonsense. Thinking business as usual will prevail is "propaganda."

And why are you so fixated on the "lower classes?" No one is gonna send a job mopping floors overseas, and no one, particularly, wants to DO that job, either. In a vibrant economy, that kind of work is for a retiree looking to supplement a fixed income to take a nice holiday, or someone who is intellectually impaired. The future insists that people with brains start using them--and people who do not want to learn, or who are not able to afford to learn, are going to be left behind. THAT's where we as a nation need to put our focus.

The answer is education. For older workers, job retraining. We need to make it readily available -- and affordable. We also need to ensure that benefits are portable--they stick with the worker, not the job.

When cars came in, it was a bad, sad day for horse groomers, buggy whip makers, carriage manufacturers and repairmen, and saddle/bridle makers. The ones who liked the work and could adapt to a smaller market share kept doing the work--the others went into other lines of work. People started making CARS instead, and with cars came repair shops and gas stations.

A door closes, a door opens. It's called progress. If you think schlepping food at a couple of bucks an hour (and depending on the mercy of "tips" to get up to minimum wage) is a "livelihood" you have a different idea of the concept than I do. This kind of work needs to go back to what it used to be--transition work between "real" jobs, college student work, part time 'pin money' work--not the work that keeps a family in food, shelter and clothing, because it doesn't do that very well at all.

Twenty years ago, jobs constructing and repairing windmills were hen's teeth. Now they are becoming more common every day. New technologies bring new jobs. Innovation is the path to a vibrant economy.

As the Chinese standard of living rises (and it is doing that), their wage advantage shrinks. It won't happen over night, but already there are businesses in USA that are moving their operations back home, because the expense of dealing with unreliable quality control half a world away, shipping costs, and damages/loss to product enroute to market is just not worth it.

2009: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970203946904574302052610981892

Some companies are driven to establish manufacturing plants in China because they want to take advantage of the country's cheap labor and duty-free zones. The minimum wage in China is less than $1 an hour, compared with $7.25 an hour in the U.S. This strategy may be of particular interest during an economic slump when businesses are being pushed to cut spending. Like the first strategy, the companies taking this approach seek only to source products from China, not to compete in the local market itself. Many U.S. and European furniture makers have pursued this strategy to keep their costs low.

There is a trade-off, however, between employee skills and lower wages. A university degree doesn't necessarily mean the same thing in China as it does in the U.S. For example, while China graduates more than 300,000 engineers a year, less than 10% are able to work at international engineering standards. Thus, while salary costs in China often are lower, the skill level and the resulting quality and productivity levels are likely to be considerably lower for many vocations as well.

2012: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304587704577333482423070376

U.S. manufacturing has become attractive for some companies as Asian wages have surged over recent years and the wage gap between the U.S. and China has narrowed. The drop in the dollar over the past decade has also made U.S.-produced goods more competitive. And higher oil prices have increased the cost of shipping goods across oceans, making domestic manufacturing more appealing.

Nevertheless, China and other Asian nations remain very competitive on many products. Once expertise and supplier networks become entrenched, as they have for such things as smartphones in China, it is very difficult to move them. The U.S. also suffers from a shortage of trained workers in some areas vital for manufacturing, such as engineering and operation of computerized machinery. U.S. corporate taxes are higher than those in most other industrial nations.....

Global companies still are expanding production capacity in Asia to serve those fast-growing markets. But more are questioning the logic of trying to meet North American demand from Asian factories, says Dr. Simchi-Levi. Companies are moving toward a regional-manufacturing model, he says, in which Asian plants serve Asian customers, North American ones serve Americans.

2013: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/economicdevelopment/as-costs-in-china-rise-some-manufacturing-jobs-return-to-usa/2152677

I-Con Systems, a Seminole County company that makes plumbing control systems for correctional institutions, had been manufacturing its components in China for about a decade when CEO Shawn Bush began thinking about moving manufacturing operations back to Florida.

Like most other manufacturers, Bush says he was originally lured to China by lower labor costs, but had encountered a number of problems in dealing with his overseas manufacturer, including the language barrier, a lack of consistent quality and a time lag in receiving material....."We had a large shipment that was delayed by a vendor, and when it was received, it did not pass our quality control," says Bush, who was unable to communicate with the vendor to explain the issue and get it corrected in a timely fashion.

After scrambling to save the customer and the project, Bush decided that the offshore relationship was not working and began acquiring equipment, personnel and the skills to bring the key items in-house to his factory in Oviedo....

http://www.slashgear.com/foxxconn-seeks-to-move-high-end-device-production-from-china-to-us-24306670/

Foxconn — accused exploiter of student laborers, rumored catalyst for alleged PlayStation 4 sabotage, installer of suicide nets for bullied workers at its exploding plants, and outgoing manufacturer of iPhones and other electronics — wants to open a Foxconn-branded plant for high-end electronics like smartphones and tablets in Arizona, USA. Foxconn chairman and president Terry Gou recently met with Arizona governor Janice Brewer, Unwired View reports, to discuss setting up shop in her state. The news first appeared in the Chinese press. (UPDATE: The company is also investing in a Pennsylvania plant to the tune of $30 million.)

The tide goes out, the tide comes in. It's the nature of the beast. Anyone who seriously believes that rank "protectionism" is going to preserve a vibrant middle class is high. We have to suck it up and be competitive, and the way to do that is to focus on providing a good education to our children--an educated workforce is a quality workforce; and providing retraining as needed for people who are transitioning from one line of work to another. There hasn't been "company loyalty" to any one organization for many years now; not since Reagan. Younger people, especially, regard job switching as normal, whereas in my day you found your "niche" and stuck with it, pretty much, if you could.

[dembotoz]

21. do you tip a tablet-so the servers will be made whole from loss of tip money-believe that when i -

see it.
the first joke

so mr tablet-what wine should i order with this entree.

answer- hmmmmm i really love the silicon smoothie


did not say it was a good joke just said first joke

[jmowreader]

113. The tablet can answer that question as easily as an Applebee's waiter

When you order a Chicken and Shrimp Tequila Tango, a little dialog box with three wines in it will pop up on the screen. That's about as good as you're gonna get from a waiter at a chain restaurant - these guys aren't recruiting from The Four Seasons, after all.

[Schema Thing]

22. I thought you were going to say ... "they already replaced food with....

...'manufactured sustenance portions'".

[Erose999]

24. Paula Deen signature manufactured sustenance portions. Now with more Soylent Green.

[Mr.Bill]

28. Not bad if you add a stick of butter. n/t

[JVS]

26. Does this mean the end of people tweeting receipts with no tips and insults?

[Blue Owl]

27. A drone could drop orders on tables

We don't need no humans for service work.

[underpants]

56. Lol

Good god Amazon had about the most disastrous 60 Min "unveiling" ever

[tridim]

30. I worked there 25 years ago, and the most fun part of the job was hanging out with the wait staff..

Before, during and especially after work.

I don't think it would be nearly as much fun hanging out with a tablet after work.

[Lex]

36. At places like Golden Corral the customers get their own food already

and there are still plenty of waitresses/waiters around filling drinks and checking on the customer.

[yeoman6987]

43. At places like Golden Corral the customers get their own food already

it is nice too because you just give them a buck or two and you are good to go. For full service you have to give at least 20 percent or you look like a cheapskate. This is really good news for those who watch money. America is getting better and better everyday. I love the idea of a tablet and then pick up your own food. The wait staff only gives drinks and takes dirty dishes away which would mean a dollar or two tip. Americans would save a ton of money annually by this process. I hope it goes national in all but the 5 star places. Technology is a great thing. Can't wait for the smart homes where everything is automatic. That is coming soon.

[Lex]

47. Not every place will go to the tablet

to order food. Most dining places will opt for face-to-face service to customers. Just like the self-checkout at grocery stores--most people will still stand in lines to get face-to-face service and don't care for self-checkout.

[yeoman6987]

50. True

My post was a bit much because I was looking at the overall population and people who can't afford to go out to eat will save overall. However, it will definitely hurt the young kids who are the wait staff so perhaps it is not that great of an idea. If the tablets don't result in a ton of lay offs then I would love it. Layoffs by attrition only.

[liskddksil]

54. And lot's of stores are getting rid of self-checkouts

because they slow down the process and create longer lines. Hopefully in the face of all this automation we can appeal to our sense of humanity and the connectedness our society really needs.

[Skittles]

72. just curious

but in your smartphone world where do people actually work?

[yeoman6987]

80. Work

There are plenty of places to work. Now are they desirable? Maybe not. Losing wait staff will not affect Subway, and other places they can work. There are more entry level jobs then CEOs by far.

[LionsTigersRedWings]

38. I used a tablet to order food

while at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Int'l Airport, and it was awesome!

very easy to use and simple!

If we don't change with the times because of someones job, where would we be? Isn't this kinda like the Industrial Revolution? How many people lost their job because of that? wasn't it a good thing the Industrial Revolution happened?

[rocktivity]

81. But HOW did you GET your food?

Did a waiter deliver it, or did you have to get it yourself?


rocktivity

[LionsTigersRedWings]

82. There was 1 waiter who served food and drinks

Great guy, very polite and kept our drinks full. Not one complaint from me.

[AZ Progressive]

94. But you can't just be destroying jobs without creating more

And ones that are accessible to the people, not ones that need someone to be very intelligent and/or be able to handle paying off tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

[LionsTigersRedWings]

118. oh really? so what happens to someone when they destroy a job without creating one?

I wasn't aware that you have to create a job before you destroyed one.

This is news to me!



if people can't adapt to a changing society and technology then they are doomed.

[AZ Progressive]

127. Nice bellyaching...

I'm talking about the Government and Society, not the worker, of course. Corporations and Republicans are destroying jobs and aren't letting the Government to create more jobs.

You seem to endorse the idea of social darwinism, that if the person isn't physically healthy and with perfect mental health, sound social skills, and a high level of intelligence, and thus a great deal of good luck, that they don't deserve to live well. In other words, you sound like a Republican.

[LionsTigersRedWings]

128. You seem to put words in my mouth, which is something repukes do.

I didn't endorse anything. I simply said if people can't adapt to a changing society then they are doomed.

Is that a false statement?


Jobs are going to come and go with the changing of technology. That's reality.

[appleannie1]

41. Guess where I am not eating.

[appleannie1]

46. Part of the enjoyment of eating out is being waited on for a change. And at Applebees, that is the

only thing making it worthwhile to eat there. Heaven knows their food is not top quality but when someone took us out to dinner at one, at least our waitress was fun and thoughtful. Oh well. I would rather eat at a local restaurant anyway. The food is fresh every day and cooked to perfection by a staff of quality chefs. The ambiance is great and the prices are moderate. Nothing, absolutely NOTHING, is frozen. And there is always a special menu with seasonal meals. And their desserts are to die for.

[Lex]

48. Exactly.

God knows I hope people aren't going to Applebee's because of the food quality.

[AZ Progressive]

95. Screw Applebees, they are as corporate as it gets when it comes down to sit down restaurants

There are plenty of small business sit down restaurants (if you live in anywhere exept the exurbs and new suburbs), screw Applebees and all the suburban restaurants.

[Lint Head]

52. The restaurants deny that the tablets represent an attempt to replace human employees with computers

Buwah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

What else a would they say? We're going to replace all waiters?

It's like the HGTV home surprise shows where the people walk into a room and say, "Wow! This is beautiful. I never expected this to be so nice." As opposed to, "My god! This sucks like a cold wiener that's turned rancid. What color is that? I want to vomit!."

Corporate entities don't give a rats ass about anything but profit and if eliminating employees to accomplish that is what it takes they will do it. I worked for a multi-billion dollar corporation for 26 years and lost count of how many times I heard this question asked in corporate meetings. "How many 'Man Hours' will this idea save?" Man hours are hours human beings work. Cutting time to be efficient can be a good thing. But if efficiency is detrimental to the human beings you serve and who work for you you're nothing but a greedy bastard.

[underpants]

55. And how would like your crap cooked?

[DinahMoeHum]

57. Yet another reason to stay away from national chain restaurants.

n/t

[suffragette]

59. I think there's a word for this - cafeteria

[Larkspur]

62. What happens to the tablets when some kid spills his soda on them?

How drink proof are the tablets?

Or someone drops them on the floor or steals it?

[Glassunion]

88. They were designed with that in mind.

They can withstand a spill, hitting the floor, being wiped down, etc...

[MineralMan]

66. With all of this, they aren't thinking at all about the customers.

People like to order food from wait staff. They can ask questions. They can tell them how they want their food. People don't like the self-checkout at the stores much, I've noticed. What makes places like Applebee's think that their clientele has any interest in this kind of high-tech ordering?

Yes, it will save them money on their labor costs, but how is that going to help if their customers go somewhere that has wait staff, and at the same price point? I suspect that they'll see sales numbers plummet after introducing this crap, and by the time they figure it out, their customers will have transferred their loyalty to some other restaurant.

I hate Applebee's already, so it won't affect me, but they aren't going to build love for their stores with this techie stuff, I think.

[MADem]

68. I like supermart self-checkout. This wouldn't bother me at all.

Actually, I'd like it, because I could be sure that my order would be precisely as I asked for it.

And I'm an old fart, not tech-stupid, but not ahead of the curve, either.

Of course, I have never had a decent dining experience at Crapplebee's. Their stuff is like a frozen tv dinner.

[MineralMan]

73. I use supermarket self-check, too.

I can check myself out faster than any checker I've ever seen. I'm also an old fart, but supermarket checkers don't do anything for me I cannot do for myself.

I go to restaurants for something different than a bag full of food I have to prepare myself. I go so I can sit back, order some food, and enjoy my meal without doing more than having a nice conversation with whomever I'm with. I like the human interaction of restaurants, so I'll be unhappy with punching in an order on a tablet. In fact, I simply won't do that. I go to restaurants to go to restaurants. The entire experience is part of the deal.

I could certainly use this system, but I won't. It would negate one of the very reasons I go to a restaurant, frankly.

[MADem]

75. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I don't go to a restaurant to talk to the server.

I go to get food I don't want to make myself, and to converse with my dining companions.

That said, I don't like Crapplebee's...but if this system was at a decent fish restaurant, I'd use it gladly.

[Dawgs]

67. WHY IS ANYONE STILL EATING AT APPLEBEES????

Yikes!!

[Nye Bevan]

91. I understand that some hipsters go there ironically.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

107. It's gross

[rocktivity]

74. Cutting out the waiter doesn't get the food cooked any faster

and someone still has to bring it to your table...unless...


rocktivity

[Lex]

79. Jobs created for those who repair tablets

and program software for the tablets, I suppose.

[AZ Progressive]

96. That person that's programming the tablets, you mean in the Silicon Valley or in Seoul

Not in your neighborhood.

Maybe whoever's repairing your tablet, but that's only a few small businesses, plus jobs like that are out of anyone that's not handy or technical.

[Lex]

97. Of course.

[madinmaryland]

83. Ironically, I think the biggest argument will come from RWer's who will be afraid that

Obama is recording everything that they order with the tablets. Between the teabaggers and the older folks who listen to Fox all day, which is a large portion of their clientele, there is no way they would trust the tablets.

Applebees is fucked.

[Glassunion]

87. Yay! Now 2 posts full of good old-fashioned overreaction in GD.

Oh noes!!! All the jobz are gone now!!

Won't someone think of the children!!

This is killing America!!!

And Stuff!!!

[kentauros]

116. I know!

I've been face-palming myself for almost the entire thread

[Trailrider1951]

89. Um, if we're not paid

we cannot buy.

Why do they do not understand this??

[LeftyMom]

100. Let me know when they replace their menu items with food.

[Niceguy1]

105. tablet ordering would be great

Especially if you can log and rate what you have had. I am always forgetting what micro brews I have tried and liked at my favorite resturant. And some of the interactive features would be nice.

[Cleita]

108. Somebody still has to clean up the mess.

No doubt it will be underpaid, undocumented, immigrant labor.

[Drunken Irishman]

112. There is a restaurant in Utah that has been doing this for at least two-plus decades...

It's called Training Table. You order from the phone at the table and then go pick it up.

[Uben]

114. HAven't been in one of those roach pits in years

Applebee's sucks, so it hasn't been hard. I vowed to never eat there again, and I hold a grudge for a long time!

[Dawson Leery]

123. Replace Applebee's with home cooking.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

125. I'm waiting for Fabricants, myself.

[herding cats]

129. I'm missing how these would replace people.

What I'm seeing is an additional interface added to the table to help aid in the ordering of food, and in making known any additional needs the consumer may have.

Unless I'm reading this wrong, there's still the need for the waitstaff to bring your order, drinks and refills, extra napkins and replace dropped cutlery, etc. This would just help take some of the pressure off the servers when a customer has an unexpected need they want addressed immediately in between visits from their server.

[demosincebirth]

130. Think they'll lower prices?

[SomethingFishy]

133. And Amazon drones will deliver the food...